Burnt Embers
by The Dappled Leaves
Summary: We all know the original story of Firestar saving the Clans. But, what if he never did. What if he never was the hero here? What if Frostfur was the hero? TOTAL AU! Come with Frostfur through her struggles, plans, determination, adventures, and more.


I was crawling into camp lithely, a large fuzzy dirt brown vole limp in my petite jaws as I came through the entrance. The camp seemed alive as I dropped the vole in the fresh-kill pile. Conversation and laughs were erupting through the air and everyone seemed to be to doing something. I began to scan around the camp. My light sky blue eyes suddenly caught sight of the big bright golden tabby pelt of my mate, Lionheart, talking animatedly with Bluestar, the ThunderClan leader, and Redtail, the ThunderClan deputy.

I sigh at the sight of him, suddenly feeling kind of sad. My mate had been busy with the Clan lately, always going on border and hunting patrols so I barely got to see him at all. I flattened her ears a little but then tore my eyes away. It should be an honor that my mate was so important that he had to go through a lot of patrols. It's something a she-cat should boast about in fact, I tried to convince myself mentally. But the brooding feeling remained as I padded to find my kits.

I saw my daughter, Cinderpaw, practicing some fighting moves with Mousefur quickly, Thornpaw, Brackenpaw, and Brightpaw watching closely. Oh, my kits. I loved them so much. Thornpaw and Brightpaw resembled their father so much and Cinderpaw looked like her me. Oh, I loved them so much. They were going to grow up into such great warriors.

As I was watching my kits, a smell hit my nose. It was a sour and dark smell, that made me cough with just a small whiff of it. I wanted to gag. I turned my head around and saw a horrible sight. Flickering red and orange flames were around surrounding the trees, making crackling and popping sounds as they burned the tree down to cinders.

"FIRE!" wailed Runningwind behind me before I could speak a word. Everyone's attention got diverted away from their conversations or meals to see the disaster and started yowling. My ears were instantly ringing at the sound of the rising uproar from the Clan. Bluestar leapt on the high rocks and yowled loudly, "ThunderClan, evacuate!" Her sapphire blue eyes full of fear, alarm, but also determination for her Clan as she sprang across the end of the camp and into the nursery, grabbing Bramblekit and Tawnykit's small little body in her mouth and leaping into the forest. Goldenflower, soon following behind closely.

I leapt up and ran towards Lionheart's side, who was running gracefully, my silvery-white pelt touching his light honey gold tabby one. His amber eyes were determined as we ran across, trying to avoid the flames. The heat was almost unbearable, as if the sun fell from the sky and hit the forest as we leapt across. Swiftpaw and Brightpaw ran ahead of us together, trying their best not to breathe in the smoke as they ran across. My eyes stung. The smoke was burning like crazy and I had a minimal fear of not being able to see or swallowing to much smoke.

My heart was pounding with fear. Hot ash was flying across the air mingling with the smoke and my soft pink pads got singed by a patch of burning embers and cinders. I gasp, despite the fact that I shouldn't and coughed roughly. Lionheart looked at me with concern but kept running. A thick dark grey ash and smoke cloud was forming above us, darkening the sky.

Suddenly, after what seemed like a lifetime, I could see the edge of Sunningrocks. My heart lifted as I bolted towards there. We were almost there. We were going to be safe. We were going to join the rest of the Clans! Suddenly, a large crack erupted through the air as Lionheart and I ran through. I assumed it was just another loud crack from the fire and kept going on my run. I assumed that until suddenly, I felt Lionheart push me roughly to the ground, sending me plummeting towards the Sunningrock area.

I quickly stood up and watched in horror as a slightly burnt tree branch toppled from the sky, and landed on my mate with a sickening crack. It all seemed to happen in slow motion before my eyes, but it was too fast for me to stop. Horror and gasps erupted through the Clan as I yowled for my mate. I tried to bolt, to save my mate, to uncover him and possibly bring him back to safety, but Whitestorm leapt up on me and pinned me down, shaking his head, and I flattened my ears in depression and defeat. He was right…it was too late. I close my eyes in grief and what seemed like denial.

My mate was dead. He was up in the sky with my mother and father…and I wouldn't ever see him again until I myself died…the unfair nature of it all cut like a claw against me. I let out a large wail and collapsed on the ground, ultimately defeated. I only hope his death was instant. Painless. I sink my claws into the soft dirt. He was the only one who didn't survive. Graystripe, a small ThunderClan tom with dark gray fur that was flecked with pieces of light ash, ears dropped in sympathy and grief. Lionheart had been his mentor. He had made him the warrior he was today. I was a prideful cat, but right now, from what I could see in his eyes, I was a total mess. And you know what? I didn't care.

I could stay on that patch of grass, feeling empty inside as I waited for the fire to die down, so I could collect the body of my lost mate when it was all over.

Brokenstar watched the fire from a distant away, flicking a torn ragged ear. He was puzzled, how had the forest caught fire? They lived right by the ThunderPath and he didn't see any monsters parked there. Perhaps they fled before he arrived? He was quite confused. Beside him Blackfoot and Clawface watched, tails twitching, but eyes a little wide with fear. They could sense their leader was angry about something, but they didn't know what, all they did know was that when their leader was angry, you did not want to hang around. Ever since ThunderClan warriors had murdered his father, Raggedstar, the scraggly long haired leader had held a grudge against the Clan. So why was this making him angry?

Brokenstar suddenly whirled around and faced the two toms and snarled, "Double the border patrols! We don't want the same thing to happen to us. And if there are any ThunderClan warriors who come crawling to us for shelter, reject them. We have little to no food as it is!"

Clawface nodded slowly and crept away, his body cowering so low that his belly touched the grass. Blackfoot, having more pride, stood up and walked straight, though the cruel leader scared him a little too. The two cats slunk away in camp, Clawface wondered what Brokenstar was planning. He knew the leader would take advantage of ThunderClan's situation, but he didn't know how. It kind of scared him just thinking about it.

Clawface sighed, and walked towards camp to give the warning. He knew his leader was planning something. And he was going to devise a wicked plan. Clawface's ears flattened a little, he looked up at the sky and prayed to StarClan for ThunderClan.

As we came back to what remained of our camp, my body felt like heavy lead. Redtail solemnly dragged Lionheart's limp, slightly burned body to the middle of camp and set him down carefully. Goldenflower, Lionheart's sister, came over grievingly, digging her nose into his thick yellow fur, wailing. I came over to and started cleaning my mate up. Bramblekit and Tawnykit, Goldenflower and Tigerclaw's kits looked at their mother worriedly. They had never seen her that way. Tawnykit seemed especially affected, she had really looked up to Lionheart.

Thornpaw, my youngest son, came up and looked at his father grievingly and in shock. He had been the closest to his father, and this was a mighty hard blow on him. The rest of my kits were bunched together, their heads down, eyes closed grievingly. They didn't want to see their brave and loyal father dead on the ground, about to be buried, no one did. Thornpaw collapsed and opened his mouth to say something, but nothing could come out. He just dipped his head into his father's fur and then got up and padded away into the apprentice den silently. No one stopped him.

I wanted him to be alive, to be with me and the kits, sharing a mouse with us or helping out a warrior in need. I sighed and dug my nose into his fur. Soon the Clan was out to give their respect with me. After a while, everyone retired. I tore myself away from my mate and whispered, "Thank you, for everything."

I then left towards the den and curled in my nest, my heart heavy. What could happen now?

A/N: Well first chapter up! I hope you liked it! Critique wanted. Frostfur was a good but minor character in my mind and I wanted to make something about her. So this came!


End file.
